Charming English tea rooms

GILLAM'S

Push your way through the fresh bread, flower and heaped produce stalls of Ulverston's street market and you will be rewarded by the quaint shopfront of this Cumbrian gem. The Gillam family's original grocer's opened across the street, in the late 1800s. These days, walkers shuck off damp jackets to steam gently beside the open fire in Gillam's, the tiny tearoom, before indulging in generous helpings of Welsh rarebit, fruit scones and Cumberland fruit teabread. The choice of loose teas is vast, from organic Sencha to chocolate chai and the smoky deliciousness of Russian caravan.

ORCHARD TEA GARDEN

Fresh, fat scones, strawberry jam and clotted cream are served for afternoon tea with a helping of history at the Orchard Tea Garden, beloved of students, who walk or cycle the two miles from Cambridge along Grantchester Meadows to savour its languid, slightly trippy air. Perhaps because Rupert Brooke (who lodged in nearby Orchard House) immortalised afternoons here: 'And, flower-lulled in sleepy grass, Hear the cool lapse of hours pass'. Or perhaps it's because it is so rare to sip tea, lying back in a deckchair, in a country orchard.

DOLLY'S TEA ROOM AND BAR

Joyful strains of Forties swing float down the stairs from this retro delight, tucked above a bookseller on Falmouth's winding high street. Blink and you'll miss the entrance - and this would be a great pity as, once seated on reclamation chapel chairs in Dolly's high-ceilinged Georgian former glory, you could be sampling wedges of Victoria sponge and lavender treacle tart served by cheery vintage-frock-wearing staff. Afternoons slide effortlessly into evening, and what began as a brief encounter with Dolly's is likely to be extended: at night it turns into a gin bar.

COMINS TEA HOUSE

This one's as far from the expected as you are likely to find, and even more surprising because Comins Tea House is in the tiny Dorset market town of Sturminster Newton. Cake is served, and light lunches, but really it's all about single estate tea. Serious drinkers come for Autumnal Flush Darjeeling from the Makaibari estate, or Da Hong Pao from the Wuyi Mountains, sourced by Michelle and Rob Comins who, inspired by a trip to Darjeeling, became tea merchants. Each fine brew comes with tiny cups and a kettle for a second and third flush. A thoroughly modern tea ceremony.

BETTY'S

This Yorkshire institution, which will turn 100 in 2019, is a perennial delight, even if it means waiting for a table overlooking Montpellier gardens. Afternoon tea at Betty's in Harrogate (there are five more across Yorkshire) is as enjoyable as the people watching. Silver cake stands laden with miniature gala pies, tiny ham and tomato pate sandwiches, hand-decorated macaroons and fresh berry meringues are ferried to tables at which chattering Yorkshire ladies are just as likely to order a Champagne cocktail as liquid revival from a 50-strong list of loose teas.